Dorothy Mary Benson
[1] | |
---|---|
Born | Dorothy Mary Benson 8 December 1919 [2] Pretoria, South Africa [1] |
Died | 19 June 2000[1] London, United Kingdom | (aged 80)
Occupation | Writer and anti-apartheid activist [1] |
Language | English [1] |
Subjects | Apartheid, Internal resistance to apartheid, African National Congress, Nelson Mandela, Albert Lutuli, Athol Fugard, Barney Simon |
Dorothy Mary Benson (8 December 1919 – 19 June 2000) [3] [4] was a South African civil rights campaigner and author. [5]
Born in 1919 in Pretoria, [4] Benson served in the South African Women's Army during World War II. [5] After the war, she was secretary to film director David Lean. [3] [5]
Benson became acquainted with the author Alan Paton, and read his novel Cry, the Beloved Country (1948), whose main theme was racial discrimination in South Africa. [5] This affected her greatly, and she became a campaigner for the rights of black South Africans. [4] [6]
She worked with Michael Scott (who, in 1946, was the first white man to be jailed for resisting South Africa's racial laws), [7] becoming his secretary in 1950. [8] With Scott, Benson helped to found the African Bureau. [5]
In 1957, Benson was appointed secretary to the Treason Trial Defence Fund. [8] In 1961, Benson took on another secretarial role, moving to Natal to assist Chief Albert Lutuli when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. [1]
Through all this work, Benson became familiar with the African National Congress (ANC). She assisted Nelson Mandela's escape from South Africa in 1962, [8] and interviewed several prominent figures in the ANC, including Walter Sisulu and James Calata. [9] Based upon these experiences, she wrote the first general history of the ANC: The African Patriots (London: Faber & Faber, 1964). [9]
She testified to the United Nations Committee on Apartheid in 1963, and was the first South African to do so. [6] She was placed under house arrest and " banned" in 1966. [8] She subsequently left the country and lived in exile, settling in London, England. [4] [1]
Benson's biography of Nelson Mandela, Nelson Mandela: the Man and the Movement (1986), was the second biography of Nelson Mandela to be written. [10] It was banned in apartheid South African upon its publication. [4]
Benson was close friends with the playwright Athol Fugard. She edited his Notebooks 1960–1977 (Faber and Faber, 1983) and wrote Athol Fugard and Barney Simon: Bare Stage, a Few Props, Great Theater ( Ravan Press, 1997). [4] [11] [12]
She appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 16 February 1997. [6]
A few months prior to Benson's death, Nelson Mandela visited her at her flat in London. [1] [13]
Benson died on 19 June 2000. [4] [5] Her papers, including correspondence with Semane Molotlegi and those relating to her biography of Tshekedi Khama, are archived in the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Oxford. [5] Other papers, including material relating to her biography of Nelson Mandela and correspondence with fellow anti-apartheid activists, forms part of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies archive collections held at Senate House Library. [14]
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cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
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Dorothy Mary Benson
[1] | |
---|---|
Born | Dorothy Mary Benson 8 December 1919 [2] Pretoria, South Africa [1] |
Died | 19 June 2000[1] London, United Kingdom | (aged 80)
Occupation | Writer and anti-apartheid activist [1] |
Language | English [1] |
Subjects | Apartheid, Internal resistance to apartheid, African National Congress, Nelson Mandela, Albert Lutuli, Athol Fugard, Barney Simon |
Dorothy Mary Benson (8 December 1919 – 19 June 2000) [3] [4] was a South African civil rights campaigner and author. [5]
Born in 1919 in Pretoria, [4] Benson served in the South African Women's Army during World War II. [5] After the war, she was secretary to film director David Lean. [3] [5]
Benson became acquainted with the author Alan Paton, and read his novel Cry, the Beloved Country (1948), whose main theme was racial discrimination in South Africa. [5] This affected her greatly, and she became a campaigner for the rights of black South Africans. [4] [6]
She worked with Michael Scott (who, in 1946, was the first white man to be jailed for resisting South Africa's racial laws), [7] becoming his secretary in 1950. [8] With Scott, Benson helped to found the African Bureau. [5]
In 1957, Benson was appointed secretary to the Treason Trial Defence Fund. [8] In 1961, Benson took on another secretarial role, moving to Natal to assist Chief Albert Lutuli when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. [1]
Through all this work, Benson became familiar with the African National Congress (ANC). She assisted Nelson Mandela's escape from South Africa in 1962, [8] and interviewed several prominent figures in the ANC, including Walter Sisulu and James Calata. [9] Based upon these experiences, she wrote the first general history of the ANC: The African Patriots (London: Faber & Faber, 1964). [9]
She testified to the United Nations Committee on Apartheid in 1963, and was the first South African to do so. [6] She was placed under house arrest and " banned" in 1966. [8] She subsequently left the country and lived in exile, settling in London, England. [4] [1]
Benson's biography of Nelson Mandela, Nelson Mandela: the Man and the Movement (1986), was the second biography of Nelson Mandela to be written. [10] It was banned in apartheid South African upon its publication. [4]
Benson was close friends with the playwright Athol Fugard. She edited his Notebooks 1960–1977 (Faber and Faber, 1983) and wrote Athol Fugard and Barney Simon: Bare Stage, a Few Props, Great Theater ( Ravan Press, 1997). [4] [11] [12]
She appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 16 February 1997. [6]
A few months prior to Benson's death, Nelson Mandela visited her at her flat in London. [1] [13]
Benson died on 19 June 2000. [4] [5] Her papers, including correspondence with Semane Molotlegi and those relating to her biography of Tshekedi Khama, are archived in the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Oxford. [5] Other papers, including material relating to her biography of Nelson Mandela and correspondence with fellow anti-apartheid activists, forms part of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies archive collections held at Senate House Library. [14]
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link)